E-Governance News: 3/12/09

SANJIV MITAL TO BE CEO OF E-GOV CONSULTANCY BODY
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line

The National Institute of Smart Government (NISG), a consultancy body that provides strategic and operation level management expertise to the Government on e-Governance projects, has announced the appointment of Sanjiv Mital as CEO-Designate.

Mital was CEO and then Vice-Chairman of Comviva (formerly Bharti Telesoft). He has also worked in senior positions in Tally, Wipro and IBM. More recently, he has been mentoring emerging companies as part of Nasscom's mentorship programme.

Mital comes with nearly three decades of experience in technology and telecom sectors, a Nasscom release said.

NISG has been set up to become a Centre of Excellence in e-Governance. A not-for-profit organisation, it has been promoted jointly by Nasscom, ILFS and the Department of Information Technology, and the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, with Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya as stakeholders.

E-KRISHI COULD BECOME MODEL FOR COUNTRY
Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu Business Line

The e-Krishi network being implemented by the State could become a model for the rest of the country, according to Dr Pawan K. Dhar, senior scientist at the RIKEN Advanced Sciences Institute, Japan, and Editor-in-Chief, Systems and Synthetic Biology journal.

e-Krishi is a market-driven agricultural initiative through IT-enabled Agri Business Centres in the State piloted by the Kerala State IT Mission and the Departments of Agriculture and Local Self Government.

The State should think of utilising the potential of computational biology to help farmers, Dr Dhar said after inaugurating the State Inter-University Centre of Excellence in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at the University of Kerala.

The Inter-University Centre of Excellence has been set up with an assistance of Rs 3 crore from the State government.

It will facilitate advanced research and education in computational biology and bioinformatics

PANEL LIKELY TO GIVE GREEN SIGNAL FOR E-PARLIAMENT SHORTLY
Vineeta Pandey, New Delhi
DNA

As world leaders brainstorm on how to tackle climate change in Copenhagen, closer home, parliamentarians are contemplating more eco-friendly measures in their way of working.

In one such move, a committee is working on modalities to make the parliamentary process paper-free by switching to the e-mode.

As a first step, the practice of having printed replies to questions posed to ministers may be scrapped. Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K Rahman Khan said the tradition of having printed copies of parliamentary questions may be replaced with them being posted online, along with replies. This, according to him, will not only mean a faster process but also prevent thousands of trees from being cut to make paper. "Our effort may be like a drop in the ocean, but it is a positive step in saving the environment," Rahman said.

 

E- Governance news: 1/12/09

ALL NEWBORNS TO GET HEALTH CARDS SOON
Malathy Iyer, Mumbai
The Times of India

It sounds futuristic but, if a plan being prepared by the Union ministry of health does work out, every newborn will get an electronic health card. And visiting your doctor would not entail lugging previous health reports.

Health data of every Indian will be available at the click of the mouse, Union minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi has promised. In other words, welcome to I-HIND or the Indian Health Information Network Development.

BIOMETRIC ACCESS TO BOOST IMA SECURITY
Sridhar Kumaraswami, New Delhi
The Asian Age

In an important move to bolster security, the Dehradun-based Indian Military Academy (IMA) is planning to request the government soon for installation of biometric access control and smart card systems at the academy.

The IMA, along with the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakvasla, was among the high-profile defence institutions that were reportedly targets of terrorists, as has emerged from the investigations into the David Headley case in the United States.

MAHA WOULD GIVE BEST RESPONSE TO UNIQUE ID PROJECT: CM
Mumbai
The Economic Times

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan today said his state would give the best response to the Unique Identification Number project.

The project is beneficial for people and there should be no shortcomings while implementing it, Chavan said during a meeting with the Unique Identification Number Authority head Nandan Nilekani here.

He also directed the secretary from IT department to make proper preparation before implementation of the project so that the unique number system can be included for various government schemes.

The unique identification number would be useful for the people taking benefits from the various government schemes, Nilekani said.

 

E Governance : 30/11/09

KERALA CALL CENTRE FOR TRADERS' AID
Kochi, November 30, 2009
The Hindu Business Line

The State Finance Minister, Dr T.M.Thomas Isaac, has said that a call centre for looking into the complaints related to the Commercial Taxes Department will start functioning in the State from January 1. Complaints can be registered by the caller in four languages – Malayalam, English, Hindi and Tamil.

Addressing reporters after the district tax collection review meeting, the Minister expressed concern over the low tax collection in Ernakulam district compared with other districts in the State. Except Ernakulam, the Minister said, all districts registered an increase in excess of 15 percent in tax collection. However, Ernakulam district had registered only a 4 percent increase.

Input tax credit

Checks made it clear that many traders in the district had claimed input tax credit more than they were actually eligible for.

As in other districts, it had been noticed that returns of traders were increasingly showing local purchases to claim input tax credit as provided under the VAT. But a close look proved that sales had not shown a corresponding increase with the local purchase figures shown by the traders, he said.

According to the Minister, the Government would thoroughly scrutinise this anomaly and place the findings before the traders and organisations. Steps would be taken to check tax evasion, he said, but added that traders would not be harassed.

UNIQUE ID NUMBER OPTIONAL: NILEKANI
Mumbai, November 29, 2009
The Hindu Business Line

The ID number to be granted to individuals under the Unique Identification Number Authority of India project is meant for identifying the person and will not be proof of the holder's citizenship, project head, Nandan Nilekani, said on Saturday.

“The unique ID number is optional and will not be proof of the person's citizenship, Nilekani said during a meeting with senior Maharashtra Government officials at Mantralaya,” an official release said. “Nilekani is very hopeful that the unique ID system would cover at least 60 crore Indians within 12 to 18 months,” it said.

Nilekani, who met the Chief Secretary, Johny Joseph, and other officials for discussing implementation of the unique ID project in Maharashtra, expressed confidence that the state with its concentration of IT industry, would lead in implementing the project, an official said. The Union Government would take help from banks, Election Commission, state governments and other organisations to collect data of people.